Madero Huerta
Madero Alejandro Huerta (born February 29, 2024) is the ghoul generalissimo of the New Mexican Army and is perhaps the last true relic of the pre-war Mexican government left on Earth. Not that that is a good thing. Nicknamed the Strongman of Chihuahua, Huerta abandoned his links to his country a long time ago and rules his territory with an iron fist. Right now, he is focused on bringing Chihuahua City (and in time, all of Chihuahua ) under his boot. Biography Early Life and Army Career Born somewhere in Durango on February 29, 2024, Madero Alejandro Huerta began his life in a poor family who lived in fear of the many cartels that ravaged the region. This motivated Huerta to join the army when he turned sixteen, becoming an officer. It soon became clear that Huerta had a knack for leadership and he began to rise in the ranks. Later, Huerta even married a wealthy heiress, María, and had two daughters that he rarely ever saw. Huerta used his newfound power to confront the cartels, rebels, and separatists that had begun to overtake Mexico by the late 2040s. Huerta's shining hour came in October 5, 2050 when he cornered the infamous Diego Banderas, leader of the large narco-communist group el Perro Rojo de la Muerte in Ciudad Juárez. Banderas had been under siege for almost two months in the city, but on October 5, Banderas was killed by one of Huerta's units. For his victory, Huerta's was given a rare battlefield promotion and was made a general, with command of all Army units in the state of Chihuahua. Huerta's victory in Ciudad Juárez was seen as a great thing in Mexico. But right across the border in El Paso, the battle was seen as evidence of Mexico's continued political and economic disintegration, which the U.S. thought only it could fix. The U.S. would act on this feeling soon, very soon. Freedom Fighter Soon after Huerta's triumph in 2050, the Americans decided that Mexico's continued instability was too much and for "the Chico's own good" the U.S. would invade Mexico. However, much of the instability in Mexico stemmed from the U.S. crippling sanctions on the Mexican economy and its already near monopoly on the country oil through Poseidon Energy's Mexican subsidiary Petro-Chico. It was only when Petro-Chico pipelines were diverted to the Mexican war effort did the Americans step in. General Huerta, stationed in Chihuahua City, was warned that American military forces were building across the border from Ciudad Juárez in El Paso for some reason. He waived it off as some kind of training exercise or something. Huerta was shocked when news of the Americans' taking of Ciudad Juárez. It was then that he began fortifying Chihuahua City against invasion, only to be told, on the the radio by the Mexican president himself, to stand down. Furious at this sign of submission, Huerta issued a declaration of mass desertion on the radio, cursing both the American and Mexican governments for ruining his country. Knowing he could not hold the city without government support, Huerta fled to the surrounding countryside with much of his army intact. However, even Huerta could not keep such a large force together with only words alone and many soldiers deserted and returned home by the first year of resistance. This left Huerta with only about a thousand soldiers and very few resources. But Huerta had not learned nothing during his war against the narco-terrorists of Mexico. He stayed in the shadows, avoiding open conflict with the American occupiers, blowing up supply depots and Petro-Chico pipelines, ambushing patrols in rural regions. This led to the Americans pursuing him more vigorously, capturing him in 2053. However, Huerta somehow manage to escape before his execution with the help of his patriotic Mexican jailer (who was later executed). He was captured again in 2059 and 2066 and imprisoned in the infamous Camp Pershing on high security but managed to escape both times along with other prisoners. When the Sino-American War began in 2066, the U.S. diverted most of their troops from Mexico and Huerta stepped up his attacks on the remaining U.S. troops, seeking to sap the moral of the remaining troops. The U.S. troops responded by sending out death squads to root out rebels, which only drove more people into the arms of Huerta. As Huerta continued to fight guerrilla warfare, he became almost legendary to the locals of Chihuahua, called el Viejo Soldado or the Old Soldier, as he fought for such a long time. Huerta's generosity to the poor, as well as his boisterous, down to earth attitude, endeared him to many. His legend became so attached to the resistance in northern Mexico that he remained leader of the Mexican resistance in Chihuahua for more than twenty five years, even as the attacks on the U.S. armed forces became less spectacular and more guerrillas were sentenced to firing squad. By 2077, Huerta was down to three hundred men but still fought on. Ghoulification October 23, 2077 came almost peacefully to General Huerta. He was drinking coffee in his camp tent when word came over the radio that nuclear missiles were falling in California and bombers were heading west with their nukes, in Mexico as well as the U.S. Huerta, confident that they were in too a remote region to be effected, ordered his men to keep on the radio and be on full alert. Before long, there was word of bombs falling in Mexico City and Ciudad Juárez Then, nothing. The radio went dead from the EMP released by the bombs and the electric lights also went out. For the next week, Huerta and his guerrillas tried to turn on the radio and scout out th surrounding community for refugees. To Huerta's surprise, there were very few people on the roads and those who were were either very badly scarred or very heavily armed. One day, rain began to fall. On closer examination, the rain appeared to be black and contaminated with radioactive material. When some of the men began to fall sick, Huerta took refuge in caves that dotted the countryside. Staying there for the next few days, Huerta and his men emerged to find the desert gray and without any plant life and very few animals. It was then that Huerta decided to scout out Chihuahua City to see if there was anything left. Taking about thirty of his best men, Huerta marched north to inspect Chihuahua City. Before he even got there, Huerta could see the smoke on the horizon. On arrival, Huerta found that the city had, for the most part, been leveled with very few buildings left standing. Chihuahua City had been hit by now fewer than four medium yield nuclear bombs that had left plentiful radiation. The general was greeted by ghouls, who he assumed were just burn victims and not the radiation (at least partly). Huerta was kind enough to the ghouls, offering them medical assistance at his camp. Several refused, saying they were too far gone, but some accepted Huerta's offer. For the next two days, Huerta searched the irritated ruins of Chihuahua City for supplies and weapons. As the expedition continued to explore, they began to feel the effects of radiation sickness as well. Pieces of skin and hair began to fall off. Huerta decide to return back to camp. After all, one of his soldiers, Valdez, had fallen into some radioactive sludge and nearly drowned. Then he started to glow. Huerta returned to camp a ragged mess with his sick troops and a couple of ragged ghouls in tow. The men that had stayed in the camp were alarmed by these apparent monsters and the fact their commander appeared to be sick of an unknown disease. Noticing this, that night at dinner Huerta gave them a rousing speech on the merits of comradery and need to restore Mexico as a country and to protect its people. Soon after the speech finished was when Valdez transformed into a Glowing One and almost instantly went feral. Killing the ghouls and humans that were with him in the field hospital with his bare hands, Valdez charged through the camp spreading radiation poisoning. Eventually, he came to the the mess where the men were eating and broke in. Warned by the noise, Huerta shot the Glowing One himself. It was found the next day that many soldiers had fled the camp in panic when Valdez turned, fearing some type of outbreak. Several more men found out that they had radiation poisoning as well and were beginning to turn into ghouls. The non-effected soldiers were alarmed by this but decided to stay with their comrades. For Huerta next few months began the transition to becoming a ghoul. Huerta lost almost all his hair, which he had kept even into his golden years. As the years dragged on, more of Huerta's human soldiers began to drift away, even as his ghoul soldiers remained loyal. By 2090, all but three of Huerta's unmutated men, his most loyal, had , what deserted. Almost forty ghouls soldiers remained. By now, Huerta had fallen into kind of a depression, what with losing his wife, his men, and his country because of the Great War. On February 29, 2096, his seventy fourth birthday, Huerta lost hope. Wishing his human compadres goodbye and goodwill, Huerta invited his ghoul soldiers to follow him to the ruins of Chihuahua City so they would (presumably) die of radiation poisoning. And with that, Huerte and his troops marched off into the ruins. And to their surprise, none of them died (they did not know that radiation actually heals ghouls). Huerta was astonished. This was a second chance! A new day for all of them! Huerte almost became a whole new person, his depressed state gone and an enthusiastic, manic individual there in its place. Huerta and his remaining soldiers decided to take up residence in the ruins, which was mostly empty because of the still high radioactivity. They found Palacio de Gobierno de Chihuahua (the old Governor's Palace) had minimal damage to its structure. Huerta claimed it as his own and took it. For the next hundred years, Huerta and his men basically squatted on Palacio de Gobierno de Chihuahua, scavenging and keeping a watch on the surrounding area. Huerta, in his free time, wrote an autobiography and a Mexican perspective on the American invasion of Mexico, both with certain embellishments. Also, Huerta decided that restoring Mexico would foolish and that he could make his own destiny, not try to restore a failed state. So, Huerta decided to make his own flag to fly over Palacio de Gobierno de Chihuahua instead of the Mexican flag. He made it, and it flew. To start his new tiny nation, Huerta claimed the city as his. By 2200, the radiation levels within Chihuahua City had fallen below lethal levels. Human squatters, prospectors, and travelers began entering the once untouched city and picking over it. Huerte, alarmed by the intrusion into what he percieved to be his territory, sent out soldiers to set up barricades at the city entrances to block entrance. This did little to stop the flow of humans into Chihuahua City but certainly showed that Huerta was not a pushover. In time, Huerta fell back to what he called "el Distrito Central" of the Central District, where he formed a stable area in the coming chaos of the wasteland in a defensible perimeter. In 2241, Huerta started allowing humans to "live" in his city, as long as they pledged their allegiance to him. Many poor paisanos fleeing north from abusive landowners in Cattle Country and other places, the people agreed to swear allegiance to Huerte. Huerte let them build housing near Palacio de Gobierno de Chihuahua and protected them from raider bands and scavengers in exchange for forms of tribute: women and supplies (the women mostly for Huerta). They even built a school, with Huerta's biography as required reading of course. This arrangement went well enough until 2258. New Mexican Army In 2256, the dictator Caesar was consolidating his control over New Mexico and destroying tribes, raider bands, and any who opposed him. This war had began to herd many people south, towards Mexico. Refugees walked the highways through the shattered cities of El Paso and Ciudad Juárez. Among these refugees were raiders, dangerous ones too, and like locusts they were coming south. Huerta, safe and comfortable in Palacio de Gobierno de Chihuahua with no rival powerful enough to oppose him, did not expect an attack on his city, but it came on April 7, 2058. Raiders scaled the walls of set up by Huerta, killing the guards. Then, they moved into the settlement around Palacio de Gobierno de Chihuahua and set about sacking it, burning and looting. Huerte was in bed with a woman at the time. He was alerted by his Lieutentant o'Neill (an Irish-Mexican ghoul) that invaders were sacking the town. Hastily putting on his pants and grabbing an assault rifle he kept as his personal weapon, Huere personally led the palace guard into battle bare-chested against the raiders, which caused many to throw up. Eventually the raiders, tried by Huerta's attack and already up to their arms in loot, began to slip away from the battle. Huerta was furious. The Palacio de Gobierno de Chihuahua was unharmed but most of his citizens homes and even their school were leveled and several of his old ghoul comrades were dead. Finding some injured raiders, Huerte had them beheaded for rape and pillaging and stuck their heads on the fence posts of Palacio de Gobierno de Chihuahua. Huerta's panicked citizens wanted assurance from their leader, so Huerta gave it: he would organize a pre-War style army to combat the raider threat. That would mean using humans as combat fighters, no problem. Many people offered to join the new army, either because they had nothing left or to avenge some killed or violated relative in the sack. Huerta used his ghoul comrades as trainers for his army and supplied with as many weapons he could scrounge, from spears to machetes to handguns. He had them walk in formation as the old Mexican Army did a do drills. By 2260, Huerte had an army of almost two hundred. The raiders had watched this spectacle with slight bemusement. A ghoul running an army? What's next, a talking deathclaw? This left them more bewildered when Huerta and his army marched down the road one night and attacked several raider encampments. Not expecting to be attacked by such a larger force, the raiders were put to flight and Huerta and his army scavenged much of the raiders' abandoned gear and returned to el Distrito Central victorious. Huerta christened his army (ironically since it was just used to fight off New Mexican raiders) the New Mexican Army, with him as their general. In the following years, Huerta set about improving the New Mexican Army, creating distinct uniforms and a command structure, with himself and his ghoul comrades at the top and the human recruits at the bottom. Also, Huerta began marching the New Mexican Army into different portions of Chihuahua City to quell gang wars and to root out raider bands who were causing trouble. El Distrito Central was rebuilt, albeit smaller and more compact, after the sack. A Catholic chapel was built in 2263 with Brother Oso, Huerta's old ghoul chaplain, as the priest. But instead of God, the residents of el Distrito Central were set on committing themselves to Madero Huerta, completely and utterly. An almost religious cult of personality was beginning to build around Huerta, since the residents of el Distrito Central were raised from birth to think of him as their wise old leader and read his book of his deeds in school. Pre-war photographs of Huerta were distributed at school and were hung from anywhere that could hold a hook. People actually memorized his book from front to back. This devotion at first disturbed Huerta, but after a while, he began to like it. Why not? Also, Huerta's treatment of raiders began to become harsher. Since slavery was officially illegal in el Distrito Central, it was easier just to kill them. Whole encampments were wiped out, even the children, because they were raiders or related to them. In 2264, more than a hundred raiders and their families were holed up in Cathedral of Chihuahua were killed in a firefight in that ended in the old Cathedral being set afire. The New Mexican Army did use torture on occasion, it was usually only when a prisoner needed to be questioned harshly. But when it was heard that the lower members of the New Mexican Army were pitting prisoners against each other in gladiatorial matches, Huerta not only allowed it against the wishes of most of his old ghoul comrades but endorsed it. Soon there was a gladiator pit built near the school and schoolchildren were betting their allowances on bloodsports. To most of the ghoul cadre of the New Mexican Army, it had become clear that the situation had gotten out of hand. So they formulated a plan: they would try to reason with Huerta and if that didn't work, they would have to kill him and take control for themselves. Led by o'Neill, Huerta's closest friend and lieutenant, they entered the Palacio de Gobierno de Chihuahua on December 23, 2267, to negotiate. Entering Huerta's bedroom, they found him passed out drunk. Some of the ghouls suggested they kill him there and then, but o'Neill refused to do that and roused him. They told him that his rule had become debauched, maybe even more debauched than the American regime they had fought so many years before. Huerta protested, saying that all he had done was in the name of rebuilding a new nation. His comrades rebuked him, each telling him what he had done wrong. Then, Huerta seemed to realize his error and thanked his old friends, saying that starting tomorrow, things would be different. The next day, all of those would had spoken ill of Huerta, even o'Neill, were arrested in their beds and set to the square outside Palacio de Gobierno de Chihuahua for judgement. A large crowd from el Distrito Central gathered to watch. Not wasting any time, Huerta, without listening to any of their protests, pronounced the conspirators guilty of treason and sentenced them to death by firing squad. Many said they saw o'Neill cry at that moment, which should not be possible since tear glands are uncommon among ghouls. But it could be seen why. The general they had fought for, killed for, and built up to rebuild the county had betrayed them and were throwing them away like a used Nuka-Cola bottle. After that, the conspirators were lined up against a wall and shot. Huerta declared that now he would lead as not just general, but generalissimo of the New Mexican Army and el Distrito Central. That day was called the Christmas Eve Purge and after that, there was no internal dissent in el Distrito Central. The only remaining ghouls were now Father Oso, who refused to believe on the grounds that threats of violence were counterproductive and three other ghouls who were too scared to follow. Huerta did outlaw the gladiator pits in 2270, but that was all. Executions became rare, but when they hapened, they usually public and often, very bloody. After the Christmas Eve Purge, Huerta kept his city under a tight watch, introducing a secret police called el Ojo de Águila (the Eagle's Eye) in 2275. Also, he began to make plans of incorporating more land into el Distrito Central and to step up his attacks on the various factions of Chihuahua City. Huerta already had a lot of influence in much of the city and had spies throughout. Huerta led a construction effort that incorporated several hundred meters more space for el Distrito Central while fending of raiders and gangs. In 2278, el Ojo de Águila was disbanded after one of their sleeper agents was activated in el Distrito Central's schoolhouse, killing several. In response, may within the organization went rogue and offered their services to others in the city. Worried that his former operatives may betray him, Huerta is planning a grand offensive to try to take Chihuahua City in on fell blow. And right now, with no united coalition against him, he just might. From there, Huerta plans to take all of Chihuahua as his Gran Distrito (Grand District). Only time will tell if this strongman's dreams of conquest will come true. Personality A bombastic man, Huerta is very charismatic and is a good public speaker, if having some anger issues. However, he often does not know what to say to motivate people and needs speechwriters to assist him. Huerta also has a weakness for liquor and women, weaknesses that have almost brought his downfall a few too many times. Huerta also can sophisticated and even has certain Machiavellian values. He has written two books, A Long Campaign:The Life of Madero Alejandro Huerta and The Second Mexican American War and the Resistance that Followed It (2051-2077). In Distrito Central, they are hailed as classic while on the outside, they are regarded with many different opinions, from praising their informative aspects to condemning their uses in propaganda to using them to level out table legs. Category:Mexico Category:Ghouls